


Keep Calm and Carry On

by VileVenom



Category: Book of Life (2014)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 10:44:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2618897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VileVenom/pseuds/VileVenom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Pssst! Hey, PSSSSSSSSSSST! Manolo!"</p><p>Manolo sat up from his slouched position on his bed, turning a frown at his bedroom window at the hissed shout that come from it. He carefully set his guitar aside, before venturing to the window to peer outside into the partial dark, arching an eyebrow down at the person he found below.</p><p>"You know, Joaquin, even if you’re ‘whispering’, shouting is still shouting. It sort of takes away the whole ‘sneaky’ aspect of it," he stated to the impatient looking boy below.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep Calm and Carry On

**Author's Note:**

> I fell head first into the Book of Life fandom, and I have no regrets.
> 
> This takes place during Joaquin and Manolo's later teen years.

"Pssst! Hey, PSSSSSSSSSSST! Manolo!"

Manolo sat up from his slouched position on his bed, turning a frown at his bedroom window at the hissed shout that come from it. He carefully set his guitar aside, before venturing to the window to peer outside into the partial dark, arching an eyebrow down at the person he found below.

"You know, Joaquin, even if you’re ‘whispering’, shouting is still shouting. It sort of takes away the whole ‘sneaky’ aspect of it," he stated to the impatient looking boy below.

"Well, I threw a rock and that didn’t work, so what else was I supposed to do?!" Joanquin replied snippily, folding his arms over his chest and tapping his toe irritably on the ground.

Manolo blinked and took a short step back to, indeed, find a small stone on his bedroom floor. He must not have heard or noticed it while he was tuning his guitar.

"Sorry," Manolo offered, leaning back out the window, "But what are you doing here so late, anyway?"

"Give me something to climb up there on, and I’ll tell you."

Manolo sighed, but gave a short nod and went about finding what he could in his room that would suffice as a make-shift ladder for his friend to climb up on. It was not the first time that Joaquin had ventured to casa Sanchez in the middle of the night, but it was certainly the first that he had asked to come up, rather than for Manolo to come down. They both knew Manolo’s father wasn’t exactly a light sleeper, so for Joaquin to actually risk being found out was something of an anomaly. And one that did not sit right with the young guitarrista.

Finally, Manolo simply tied his blankets together and tossed the end out his window, holding tight to the end in his hands as he felt Joaquins weight pull against the blankets. He let out a wheeze as he yanked at the blankets as they began to slip out of his fingers, gasping as they finally broke free of his hold, his heart slamming in his chest as he stared at his window in horror. He let out his held breath as Joaquin’s head popped up over the edge of the frame as the blankets fluttered to the floor, the other hoisting himself up onto the wooden frame with what appeared to be little to no effort.

"Dios mio," Manolo sighed heavily as he gave his startled heart a pat, offering a short smile to his friend as he gathered his blankets and tossed them back onto his bed. "So," he continued, brushing his hands off needlessly on his sleep clothes as he turned back to Joaquin, "What was so important that you had to come and see me in the middle of the night, AND risk being caught by my father? More so than usual, that is."

He expected a flash of a grin or a sign of mischief on his friend’s face, which he’d easily become accustomed to as the two grew up together. Not that Joaquin was ever a trouble maker, of course. He had a reputation already among the townsfolk that he did not want to tarnish. However, he would often manage to sneak away from General Posada and the other soldiers in order to visit Manolo, or somehow convince the boy to skip his bull fighting lessons in order for the two to spend some time together.

But tonight, Joaquin’s face held none of its usual mirth, or even boisterous confidence. Instead of the young man who had trained so hard to become a soldier like his father before him, lithe and well toned for eighteen, Manolo saw the uncertain and sometimes nervous child that he hadn’t seen since Maria had left for Spain.

"Joaquin?" Manolo took a short step towards his friend, hand held absently out, as if to grab hold of Joaquin if he should fall from the window.

"I’m leaving town tomorrow."

"What?!" At Joaquin’s quiet ‘hush’ and motions for Manolo to be quiet, the guitarrista took the last step over to his friend, eyes wide in worry. "You never mentioned anything before!"

"I didn’t know, for sure, if it was going to happen. But…the General got a distress message from a neighboring town. He wants me to go and see if I can help. I’m leaving first thing in the morning."

"You-you can’t! I-When are you going to come back?" Manolo forced back the tears he could feel welling in his eyes, the hole left in his heart from Maria’s departure only growing wider at the news that his only other friend would also be leaving him.

"I don’t know. However long it takes to drive the bandits out. I just-I wanted you to know, before I just suddenly wasn’t here anymore. or you found out from someone else about my heroic adventure," Joaquin said, a grin finally splitting his lips.

Manolo snorted, scrubbing under his eye with the heel of his palm. “You promise you will come back though, right? You have to be back when Maria returns.”

Joaquin’s grin softened into a smile as he reached up to tug Manolo down, resting their foreheads together. “I promise. Can’t have you sopping up all the glory with your bull fighting,” he chuckled, patting Manolo’s cheek.

"I would rather just play my guitar," Manolo breathed in response, flicking Joaquin playfully in the ear, before letting out a breath, his shoulders slumping with the action. "What will I do without you both?"

"You’ll survive, Manny," Joaquin reassured, sitting back with a soft smile, tugging playfully at the curl of Manolo’s hair, "You always do."


End file.
